ROCkET EMPOWERing Female EntrepreneurS

Project background

The proportion of women in business start-ups in Germany is significantly lower than their share of the population. A significant proportion of the start-up potential available in Germany is therefore not yet being exploited. EXIST-Women is intended to support women at universities and research institutions who are interested in starting a business and have an affinity for entrepreneurship in the phase prior to founding a company, particularly in the development of their entrepreneurial personality and the further development of their start-up idea. The program is aimed at women who are already pursuing a specific start-up topic as well as those who would like to identify a suitable start-up idea during the funding phase. Funding is open to all topics and technologies.

Project objective

EXIST-Women aims to help encourage women to venture into entrepreneurial independence and increase the proportion of women as managing directors and shareholders of innovative start-ups.

Project procedure

In a twelve-month program, the ROCkETempowers participants are continuously supported in the development of their start-up idea by the ROCkET Start-up Center at Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences and individually accompanied by committed mentors with a start-up background from the ROCkET start-up network. As part of the ROCkETempowers qualification program, knowledge and methods that are directly applicable to everyday start-up life are taught in practice-oriented workshops. In addition, topic-specific event formats and centrally offered events from the EXIST Women funding line provide in-depth insights into innovative start-ups.

Innovation

The ROCkETempowers program starts in the pre-start-up phase and supports women interested in starting a business by closely interlinking knowledge-based support from the ROCkET start-up center and practical expertise from the ROCkET mentoring network to develop both their entrepreneurial personality and their start-up idea. The program builds bridges between female founders, universities and research institutions as well as nationwide EXIST-Women formats in order to create sustainable ecosystems. In the long term, a higher number of female-led companies increases the innovative strength and diversity of the regional and national economy